b'1.9 Manufacturing in Vietnam: capacity shifts, tariff avoidance, tariff evasionProducers are shifting capacity from China to Southeast Asia and logistics companies are responding with increasing investments but U.S. authorities are looking out for tariff cheats.Peter Buxbaum, AJOT On July 2, the U.S. Department of Commerce slapped preliminary duties as high as 456.23 This article was originally published on percent on some steel imports from Vietnam. The rationale: circumvention of antidumping July 22, 2019 in issue #691 and countervailing tariffs against corrosion-resistant (CORE) and cold-rolled steel (CRS) from South Korea and Taiwan.Commerce found that certain steel products that were first produced in South Korea and Taiwan were then shipped to Vietnam for minor processing before being exported to the The tariffs will hurt Vietnam, among the few countries that have benefited from trade tensions between the U.S. and China.United States. Spikes in shipments of CORE and CRS from Vietnam to the U.S. provided the department with a big clue. CORE shipments increased 4,076% from December 2015 to April 2019, while CRS increased 922% from February 2016 to April 2019.This isnt the first-time penalties were imposed on imports from Vietnam. In December 2017, DOC hit CORE and CRS imports with punitive tariffs, claiming they originated in Chi-na. In March 2019, U.S. Customs found some importers were evading duties for imported aluminum door thresholds from China that were transshipped through Vietnam with false declarations of origin and without depositing antidumping or countervailing duties. These kinds of investigations are on the rise, according to a recent report from the international law firm Baker & McKenzie, which noted that deliberate falsification of import documents can lead to criminal liability.Manufacturing ShiftThere are several developments at play with these kinds of stories. Producers have been shifting manufacturing capacity from China to Vietnam and other countries for years but the tariff situation has accelerated that trend and its become clear that Vietnam is benefiting from the U.S.-China trade war. Vietnam has been called the new China, noted a recent report from the Council on Foreign Relations, given its low wages and lax labor and environmental regulations. U.S. imports from Vietnam increased 34% in the first five months of 2019.The spike in exports from Vietnam to the U.S. has earned the country President Donald 20 THE UNCONTAINED www.theuncontained.com'